


The Emptiest Life Of Them All

by MusicPlotter



Series: Whumptober 2019 [29]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Apathetic Harry Potter, Character Death, Don't copy to another site, Insane Harry Potter, Master of Death Harry Potter, No.29 Numb, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 08:48:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21241388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicPlotter/pseuds/MusicPlotter
Summary: The war is finished and Harry is the only survivor. He is offered an opportunity many would dream of, though he simply wants a bit more excitement in his life.





	The Emptiest Life Of Them All

Everyone was dead.

Wizards, Witches, Muggles, Centaurs, Dragons. Everyone and everything that had ever had a single bit of life in it was dead.

Except for Harry.

Harry who had been at the centre of the explosion, the eye of the storm as his magic was forced outward by the ritual Voldemort had put him through. It was supposed to kill Harry, make his own magic betray him and destroy him from the inside out but a single word mistranslated changed the whole ritual. 

So now he was alone. Truly alone for the first time in his life. Although could you even be alone if there’s no other possibility?

He was numb. Nothing could possibly make him feel anything. There were no tears in his eyes, no tremor in his hands, no screams threatening to escape his throat. He was just there, existing in the middle of a world where nothing else had a pulse, where even the plants and flowers had been incinerated.

Why should he be upset when there was no one around to see it, to fix it? Why should he be happy when the world had just been destroyed?

Behind him, even Hogwarts was crumbling, Harry having absorbed the magic holding it together as his own during the ritual. It was the only sound to be heard apart from Harry’s own breathing, huge rocks falling to the ground sounding like individual explosions as they made contact.

Time passed and eventually, all was silent, though Harry could taste the dust in the air, could see the disturbed particles in the air as they swept around him. Maybe if he cared, he would have moved, worried for his health - but why should he try and prolong his life when there was nothing to live for? 

He stared curiously at the landscape around him, an empty ditch in the ground the size of Diagon Alley where the lake used to be. Inside the ditch were various creature, the giant squid suddenly looking remarkably small in comparison to the rest of the world. The Forbidden Forest had been burnt to the ground, as had the creatures within. He knew, could feel with his own magic that the whole planet had been decimated.

But then there was someone in front of him, staring at him with curiosity even if Harry couldn’t see their eyes. Oh, don’t be mistaken, Harry was still the only thing containing any amount of life in the world, but still, the figure, made of darkness itself, stood in front of him and had intelligence hidden behind the hood.

Still, Harry wasn’t phased. He should have expected this.

“Hello.” He greeted, tilting his head curiously. Perhaps it was his time to join the rest of the world.

“Harry James Potter. You have reached the end.”

“I have? It took a rather long time.” Harry’s voice was bland compared to the iciness that filled the figure who could only be Death, even as he recounted the years of war they had all been subjected to.

“It was not supposed to end this way. You have destroyed the world. How am I supposed to do my job when there is nothing left to die? Do you understand how bored I will become?”

“My apologies.” He was lying, he was not at all worried about upsetting Death itself.

“There is no need to pretend with me. I see everything that is and everything that could have been. I know that you feel nothing for the fate of the world.”

“Okay.”

“Are you not curious? Nevermind. I am here to offer you a chance, an opportunity to change everything.”

“No thank you.” Harry turned away and sat down, he had no interest in reliving everything that had happened, no desire to change the outcome of the war. They had not lost, they had simply not won.

“You have no choice. You will be taken to the point where you can make the most difference in the age that would best allow you to change fate itself.”

“Oh? And when will that be?”

“When Tom Riddle was simply a boy. You too will be his age in body, though you will keep the secrets of the future in your mind.”

“That doesn’t seem very smart.” 

Frustration was practically rolling off of Death as it considered the wizard. Unfortunately, Harry Potter had unknowingly become the Master of Death and so was the only person that would even be able to see Death, nevermind carry out the task Death had assigned.

“Why is that?”

“I’m sure you know I am no Occlumens, just as I am no match intellectually for Tom Riddle.”

“Your mind will be shielded by me, no mortal will be able to access it. Do not be so foolish as to assume that I would leave you to change fate on your own - you will have gifts that will make you valuable to Tom Riddle, gifts that will best help you to change everything.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes. It might even be fun.”

Death shook its head - at least it couldn’t get worse. Perhaps the wizard would even find a way to fix himself in the past.

**Author's Note:**

> This one is almost definitely going to have a sequel at some point, so count this as Part 1. I don’t know when I’ll write it because Whumptober has given me so many new stories to work on.
> 
> Let me know what you think and if you’d like a sequel!
> 
> You can also find me [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/musicplotter) on Tumblr!


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